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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29759292">Staying</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantasticoncer/pseuds/Fantasticoncer'>Fantasticoncer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Unexpected soulmates [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Happy Ending, Immortality, Loving Marriage, Male-Female Friendship, Married Characters, Married Couple, Married Life, One Big Happy Family, Post-Canon, Post-War of the Ring, Romantic Fluff, Sad and Happy, Sad with a Happy Ending, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, True Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:40:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,275</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29759292</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantasticoncer/pseuds/Fantasticoncer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Arwen decides to stay in Middle-Earth and experience the ups-and-downs of life with her friends</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aragorn | Estel/Original Female Character(s), Arwen Undómiel/Original Male Character(s), Faramir (Son of Denethor II)/Original Female Character(s), Legolas Greenleaf/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Unexpected soulmates [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1289585</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Staying</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenclaw_Peredhel/gifts">Ravenclaw_Peredhel</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Please read my "Unexpected Soulmates" series before you read this one. Otherwise, you won't have a single clue what's going on or who some of these characters are at all</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise </p><p>A couple of months before lord Elrond would sail to Valinor, Arwen and her soulmate and husband James talked with the latter's sister Eva about how she and Legolas were staying in Middle-Earth until Victoria, Faramir, Aragorn and Grace had passed away. This created a question in Arwen's mind that plagued her for a few hours, until James finally asked her what was wrong as he hadn't wanted to disturb her. </p><p>"If Eva and Legolas are staying, then why can we not do the same?" She asked. James opened his mouth to answer, before falling silent. "Because I thought that you wanted to sail with your family. See your mother again." He finally answered and his wife smiled a bit sadly. "Valar know that I really want that, but I don't want to leave our friends to never see them again. Valinor and my family can wait. They cannot." She replied.  "Are you sure about this?" James asked, grabbing her hand and she smiled at his concern, before nodding. </p><p>"I want to meet Grace's child and any of the children that they and Victoria and Faramir may have in the future. I do not want to be more than just a story that they will tell at night, a mysterious figure who lives far away and will never meet their children. I spent too much time with Aragorn, Grace and Victoria for that." She stated. James smiled at her and nodded, before pulling her along to write a letter to lord Elrond.</p><p>Their friends were overjoyed to hear that they were staying. Especially Grace and Victoria were happy as they would never see Arwen again if she left now. Lord Elrond was slightly more reluctant, but he understood her desire to stay with her mortal friends, so he gave her his blessing to stay and come to Valinor with James, Eva and Legolas. Elladan and Elrohir were enthusiastic as they were staying as well for now.</p><p>A few months later, they and the others were in the Grey havens, saying goodbye to Gandalf, lord Elrond, lord Celeborn and lady Galadriel. Arwen bade them all farewell, thanking them for everything and saving her father for last. "<em>I will see you soon, father. I promise."</em> She vowed and lord Elrond smiled at her. <em>"I do not doubt that, my daughter."</em> He replied, kissing her forehead, before they hugged each other for a long time. Pulling back, the older elf turned to his son-in-law and ordered him to take care of his only daughter</p><p>It was an order that James promised to follow. As Frodo joined the leaving group as well, Arwen gave him a tight hug. She knew that it was best for the hobbit to leave and heal from the effects that the One Ring had on him. Watching the boat sail away, she gripped James's hand tightly. James squeezed back, before letting go and wrapping his arm around her instead. "You will see them again, my star." He promised and she nodded. </p><p>Unlike Grace, Victoria, Eva and their soulmates, who were all staying primarily in Gondor as they all had duties to that kingdom, Arwen and James were free to split their time between both Gondor and Rivendell. Arwen had a lot of trouble choosing where she wanted to live, so they had decided to live six months in Rivendell with Elladan and Elrohir and the other six months in the elven colony that Eva and Legolas had begun.</p><p>Arwen was more than happy with this arrangement and so was everyone else. Arwen really wanted to have a child, but James wasn't certain about it at first, not knowing what the effects of having a half-human, half-elven baby would have on his wife. It took a bit of convincing for him to be more comfortable with the idea. "Did you forget my lineage, <em>Meleth</em> <em>nín</em>? I will be fine." Arwen told him and he sighed, before agreeing. He later heard Eva call him whipped and threw a small rock at her head in response.</p><p>One day, shortly after Victoria and Faramir had a son, Arwen and Eva were walking together through the colony, happily chatting with each other while James and Legolas had a meeting with Aragorn in Minas Tirith. Arwen was laughing at a funny story that Eva was telling her about when she and James had been young, when she suddenly felt herself slightly unwell and stumbled a bit. Eva immediately noticed this and helped her steady herself.</p><p>"Are you alright?" She asked and Arwen shook her head. "I don't know." She replied slowly. "It's not like you to stumble. Not like you at all." Eva muttered softly in concern. "I felt... faint. I felt as if I was about to fall over." The elleth responded, very confused about what had just happened. Eva set her jaw in response and started to lead her sister-in-law to the nearest healer, despite her protests that she felt fine now.</p><p>"I am not going to let my brother scold me for just letting you go when you felt sick." She stated and Arwen conceded. A little bit later, Arwen and Eva sent a letter, requesting all their friends in Gondor to come to the home that James and Arwen used during their time in Gondor the next evening. Everyone agreed to come and their house was packed. During dinner James looked at his wife in concern. He had felt that something was off with her yesterday and now he had the same feeling again as she barely ate.</p><p>After dinner, he politely exused himself and his wife and took her to their bedroom. "What is going on?" He then asked, incredibly concerned about his wife. "Something wonderful." Arwen replied vaguely and he frowned. She chuckled and kissed his forehead. "I am with child." She whispered. James's jaw fell slightly, before he suddenly lifted her up in his arms and twirled her around in happiness, making her laugh.</p><p>Putting her down, he cupped her face and kissed her passionately. Pulling back, he smiled at her and she smiled back at him, glad that he was so happy. "Oh my beautiful star." James whispered with tears in his eyes, before pulling her into a tight hug. She chuckled, before hugging him back. "I honestly want to shout it from the rooftops, but that is not exactly proper." She laughed. "Can I do it?" James asked as as he pulled back.</p><p>She laughed again and nodded. He suddenly gasped in excitement as an idea hit him. "I can be like the "How it Should Have Ended" version of Anakin Skywalker." He grinned."That what version of who?" Arwen asked in confusion. "Okay, so on earth, there is a group of people who make small cartoons about how a movie really should have ended and Anakin is like a space warrior from a few very famous movies. In the story, he is not allowed to have a wife or children because of things that I will explain at a later date." He began</p><p>He still secretly marries and then gets the news that she's with child. Admittedly, in the movie he actually reacts how he should react about it. He keeps his reaction very quiet and private, knowing that it's both big news and a big problem." He continued. "And in the cartoon?" Arwen asked with a grin, having a feeling where this was going. In response, James made an exaggerated face as he took a deep breath.</p><p>""I'M GONNA BE A FATHER?!?!"" He shouted loudly. Arwen immediately burst out into laughter. "Meanwhile, his wife frantically tries to calm him down. "Sshh. What are you doing?!"" James hissed and Arwen laughed even harder. "He doesn't listen though. "I'M SO HAPPY!!!"" He shouted again, before grabbing his laughing wife's hand and pulled her back to the dining room, changing the words slightly as he went.</p><p>"Everyone, I'm gonna be a father! My beautiful wife's pregnant and she's gonna have a baby! He called. Once everyone heard what he was saying, they all cheered and congratulated the happy couple. Over the next few months, Arwen's stomach grew with life with James right at her side trough everything. After a few months, when Arwen was about 6 months pregnant, James noticed how his sister was looking more and more sad. During the next visit, he sat her down and asked her about it. "I'm jealous that she got pregnant so soon and I still have to wait." She muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed about it.</p><p>He smiled at her and suggested trying harder to get a child. "Shut up, Toph." Eva muttered, shoving her brother in response and making him laugh. "Make me, Katara." He replied with a smug grin, the siblings using their nicknames from the quest for the Lonely Mountain. It seemed so very long ago that they had travelled with a group of grumpy dwarves and now, they had defeated Sauron and finally lived in peace.</p><p>At about a year of pregnancy, Arwen's water broke and after several long hours of labour, during which James paced the hallway nervously with Elladan and Elrohir watching him, she gave birth to twins: a boy and a girl just like their father and aunt. They named the girl Asterin and the boy Aldrin. Arwen was absolutely over the moon as she held their son and James held their daughter as he sat on the edge of the bed.</p><p>Their friends and family soon came to meet the two babies. Eva was ecstatic to be an aunt as she held Asterin with Legolas holding Aldrin. James was so lucky to already have children of his own. She gently kissed her little niece's forehead, smiling at the sleeping girl. "You'll never want for anything, little one. That's for certain." She whispered. She and Legolas shared a look and smiled at each other, knowing that they were thinking the same thing. Not long after that, they finally became parents as well of two beautiful twin girls. </p><p>With two babies to take care of now, Arwen and James stayed in Gondor and didn't travel back to Rivendell for a while. Lothlórien was closer to Gondor, but that forest had slowly been abandoned by the elves and didn't really have anything that could warrant a visit as her grandparents were already in Valinor and the only family she had left in Middle-Earth were her husband, her children, her brothers and her good friends </p><p>It wasn't until their children were about twelve years old that they finally dared to make the very long trip across Middle-Earth to visit Elladan and Elrohir again and both Asterin and Aldrin didn't know where to look first when they eventually reached their mother's childhood home, completely in utter awe of the old place that they had already heard so many stories about from their parents, uncles and aunts.</p><p>While there were still elves living there under Elladan and Elrohir, there weren't nearly as many as there had been in its prime. Several outer parts of the elven realm were already largely abandoned, where they had once been teeming with life and it saddened Arwen as this really showed the time of elves had ended. Both she and James grinned when Aldrin asked why there was an empty pedestal in the middle of a hall, knowing that it used to have the shards of the sword Aragorn now carried around with him</p><p>She, James, Elladan and Elrohir met together one evening to discuss what to do next. "Seeing the general pace of how many elves are leaving for the west, we expect Imladris to be almost completely empty around the year 200 of the fourth age. There are some elves who will not leave without us, so we have to see what we'll do." Elladan spoke up and both his sister and brother-in-law nodded in understanding. </p><p>"Sounds rather easy. Rule over a small number of elves." James commented. "It gets rather boring to be honest. There are times that we barely got anything to do and with orcs disappearing as well, it's not like we can hunt either." Elrohir replied. "Why don't you start hunting an elf down, then?" James asked and got three incredulous looks shot towards him. "Who?" Elladan asked and he smirked. </p><p>As time passed and many years went by, James, Arwen, Eva, Legolas and their children started to learn the disadvantages of being immortal as many of their friends slowly grew old and died. It started with Éomer, although the daughter of Grace and Aragorn did find her soulmate then, followed by the sweet Merry and Pippin, who were especially mourned by Boromir, Victoria and Faramir as they had been closest to the mischievous hobbits and who were buried next to the mighty kings of old as Sam had sailed west as well. </p><p>Just a few years after Boromir and Éowyn had passed away, leaving their son as the Steward of Gondor, they suffered the first of the heaviest blows as Faramir got sick and everyone knew that he wouldn't get better. Saying goodbye to the weak man lying in bed, Arwen cried heavily, even though she knew she wouldn't have changed this for the world as she would rather be here than hear of their passing later.</p><p>Victoria passed away only six months after her husband, the Bonded couple completely unable to be apart from each other for long. Asterin and Aldrin mourned them as well, knowing that they would never see them again. Arwen looked at James with a dreading look, knowing that only Grace and Aragorn were left of their mortal friends now and seeing them grow older over the years as well. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it</p><p>When the king and queen died, no one mourned as much as the Arwen, James, Eva, Legolas, their children and Gimli did. Now that they didn't have anything anymore to tie them to Middle-Earth and with the elven colony empty, Arwen and James travelled ahead to Rivendell with their children and Gimli while Legolas and Eva did a final tour of Middle-Earth with their daughters and said goodbye to Thranduil as he wouldn't leave just yet. They did make a stop in Lothlórien for Arwen's sake as she wanted to say goodbye to a place she spent so much time in</p><p>They didn't stay long as seeing what had once been such a beloved place so completely silent and utterly devoid of elven life unlike what she was used to, honestly hurt Arwen more than she had actually expected and they eventually went on towards Rivendell after spending less than a week in what had been Caras Caladhon. Arriving in Rivendell and meeting a new ellon in the former fortress, James and Arwen smiled at him</p><p>With Rivendell almost completely empty as predicted, Elladan and Elrohir immediately took the few remaining elves that were still there with them and finally left once Legolas and Eva had arrived with their daughters and had rested for a bit. They all watched from the edge of the place as Elladan and Elrohir used their rights as lords of Rivendell to close the wards around it, making it disappear into the mountains for good.</p><p>Both James and Eva held their soulmates and children incredibly tightly as the one place that had been home for them all for so many years, a safe place where they could always come to rest and heal safely, completely disappeared from their view, knowing that they would never see it again in their life. Arwen held her husband just as tightly as Rivendell had been her home and now, she was leaving it behind for good. James gently wiped away her tears as they slowly turned around and went on, leaving the valley behind forever</p><p>Tour or not, they did travel through the Shire on their way to the west to remember the brave hobbits they had made two fantastic journeys with and even stopped by Bag End, which now belonged to Sam's family. Sam's children and grandchildren were in awe to meet some figures of their father's and grandfather's stories, although a mournful silence fell when they asked where some of the others were and explained they were gone.</p><p>Eventually arriving at the Grey Havens and seeing that Círdan had left for Valinor already, the Ellyn immediately went to build a boat to carry them all over the sea themselves, while one elleth asked Gimli what he was going to do on his own once they were gone. "Nothing. I'm coming with you." The dwarf replied, chuckling at some of their faces. The boat was eventually finished and they finally sailed away.</p><p>James and Eva both silently watched from the back of the ship as Middle-Earth, the place they had lived for at least a century or two now and had called home just as much as they had called Rivendell home, completely disappeared from view. They would never see Erebor, Gondor, Rohan, Dale, Greenwood, the Shire or any of the other amazing places that it had ever again. "Kinda makes you wonder what Beleriand looked like, doesn't it?" James asked. "Oh, don't start." Eva muttered with a roll of her eyes as she walked away. </p><p>"No, I'm serious. What if we had been sent to help in the first age?" He asked. "Who would be our soulmates then?" She asked as they joined their families. "I don't know. Aredhel and Ecthelion?" James suggested and they chuckled. "What about Victoria and Grace?" Arwen asked, playing along. "No idea. Uhm, High King Fingon and Maedhros." James said and they laughed, one ellon looking up at hearing his brother's name. </p><p>Eventually arriving in Valinor, Elrond, Celebrían, Galadriel and Celeborn were already waiting for them at the dock with beaming smiles. Celebrían was obviously the most popular one at first, although Arwen first hugged her father while Elladan and Elrohir hugged their mother and introduced him to his grandchildren. "We've got a surprise for you." She then told him. His face when Maglor walked off the ship was hilarious. </p><p>A whole new life immediately began for them in Valinor after they reunited with several old friends. As two of the saviours of Middle-Earth as well as being chosens of the Valar, made them the talk of the hour and they were invited to many parties and feasts. Asterin found her soulmate during one of those feasts and it was lord Glorfindel, the ellon having left before she was born. Eva's daughter Sylvaine ironically found her soulmate in Ecthelion, making her mother and uncle avoid each other's eyes as they'd burst out into laughter otherwise</p><p>Her other daughter Amirah eventually found her soulmate in prince Ingwion of the Vanyar during a feast held in honour of her parents, uncles and aunt. Aldrin found his soulmate in a beautiful Teleri lady of Aqualondë named Túrendil. Eva, Legolas, James and Arwen were all incredibly proud parents as their children married their soulmates one-by-one and eventually had families of their own over time.</p><p>One night, James found Arwen looking out at the stars and wrapped his arms around her. "I miss them." She confessed and he nodded. "Me too. I'll always miss them, but they wouldn't want us to mourn forever. They'd want us to keep living and start anew." He said. "And so we will." She replied, putting his hand on her stomach. He smiled at her and kissed her. They'd always miss their friends, but they were safe and happy</p><p>All was well</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I think this will be my last story in this series as I've lost interest in writing for it. I had part of this written a long time ago when I was still writing for it and I only completed it because I decided it honestly deserved to be finished. It was an incredible fun journey to write and this is how it ends.</p><p>Read and review. See you next time</p></blockquote></div></div>
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